1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel having a structure which increases a discharge space and a visible light emitting area, and enables low voltage driving, so as to increase brightness and improve light emission efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plasma display panels (PDPs) have received considerable attention as the next generation of flat display devices due to their superior characteristics, such as large screen size, high image quality, ultrathin and lightweight design, large viewing angle, simple manufacturing process, and suitability for a large screen size.
Plasma display panels (PDPs) can be classified into direct current (DC) PDPs, alternating current (AC) PDPs, and hybrid PDPs according to the discharge voltage applied. PDPs can further be classified into facing discharge PDPs and surface discharge PDPs according to their discharge structure. Recently, the alternating current type PDPs, having an alternating current type, three-electrode surface discharge structure, have been widely adopted.
A PDP typically includes a front panel and a rear panel. The front panel includes: a front substrate; a plurality of sustain electrode pairs, each having a Y electrode and an X electrode, formed on a lower surface of the front substrate; a front dielectric layer covering the sustain electrode pairs; and a protection film which covers the front dielectric layer. The X electrode and the Y electrode include transparent electrodes formed of indium tin oxide (ITO) and bus electrodes formed of a highly conductive metal, respectively.
The rear panel includes a rear substrate, a plurality of address electrodes crossing the sustain electrode pairs on a front surface of the rear substrate, a rear dielectric layer covering the address electrodes, a plurality of barrier ribs spaced at intervals on the rear dielectric layer so as to define discharge cells, a phosphor layer formed in each discharge cell, and a discharge gas which fills the discharge cells.
The PDP is formed by separately manufacturing the front panel and the rear panel, and then joining the two together and sealing them. The manufacturing of the PDP is completed by purging the discharge cells, and then injecting a discharge gas.
The alternating current type, three-electrode surface discharge PDP has a drawback in that only approximately 60% of visible light generated by the phosphor layer is emitted since a considerable amount of the visible light is absorbed by the dielectric layer covering the sustain electrode pairs on the lower surface of the front substrate, thereby providing a low light emission efficiency.
Also, the alternating current type, three-electrode surface discharge PDP has a problem of permanent latent images due to ion sputtering of charged discharge gas particles onto the phosphor layer after prolonged operation.
Finally, in the alternating current type, three-electrode surface discharge PDP, in order to enable low voltage driving by reducing address voltage, it is necessary to reduce the distance between the Y electrode, which is a common electrode, and the address electrodes. In this case, the discharge voltage may be reduced by reducing the height of the barrier ribs since this defines the distance between the electrodes. However, when the height of the barrier ribs is reduced, the area for coating phosphor is also reduced, thereby reducing the overall brightness of the panel.